Dr. Leanne Ten Brinke says you can spot a psychopath in exactly five seconds

We throw around clinical terms like confetti. Your ex is a narcissist, your boss is a sociopath, the guy who cut you off in traffic is a psychopath. But forensic psychologist Dr. Leanne Ten Brinke tells The Mel Robbins Podcast that true dark personalities are highly specific, deeply destructive, and surprisingly easy to spot. The most startling revelation from her appearance is just how little time it takes to unmask a psychopath. You don’t need a psychology degree or a month of careful observation. You need five seconds.

The five-second psychopath test

Ten Brinke cites research by psychologist Scott Lilienfeld, who showed untrained subjects five to ten-second video clips of incarcerated men undergoing psychological evaluations. The subjects were given a brief definition of psychopathy, which boils down to a cocktail of callousness, manipulation, and impulsivity. Based on just seconds of footage, these laypeople accurately rated the subjects’ psychopathic traits, correlating tightly with the assessments of trained professionals who had access to full criminal files.

Ten Brinke and her colleagues wanted to know exactly what the untrained observers were picking up on. The tell was a severe disconnect between the words coming out of their mouths and the expression on their faces.

What we found was that the people with high levels of psychopathy were saying really hostile things and smiling broadly. We call it a douche smile with you and you got those little um crinkles around your eyes that go along with the upturned lips.

That dissonance is a massive red flag. The psychopath is attempting to perform charm, but the underlying hostility leaks out in the mismatch. If someone smiles warmly while insulting you, believe the insult.

The narcissism expiration date

While psychopaths reveal themselves in seconds, narcissists take a little longer. Ten Brinke highlights a study of university students working in groups over a seven-week term. During the first week, the highly narcissistic students completely fooled their peers.

It turns out that the people who were the most narcissistic in those groups were originally seen as like really agreeable, really well-adjusted, and very competent.

But the sheen wears off quickly. By week seven, the exact same individuals were universally recognized by their peers as hostile, arrogant braggarts who vastly overestimated their own abilities. The traits that make them magnetic at a cocktail party are the same traits that make them unbearable in a long-term project.

Listen to the office gossip

For the Machiavellian personality, the person who views human relationships as a chessboard, Ten Brinke suggests a different detection tool. Pay attention to the whisper network.

She points to research by Dacher Keltner studying gossip in a sorority. Keltner found that the women who were gossiped about the most shared a distinct profile. They were highly Machiavellian, extremely well-known, intensely disliked, and viewed as possessing unearned status. If someone in your office commands a lot of attention but sparks a trail of bitter, baffled resentment, you are likely looking at a Machiavellian systematically stepping on heads to climb the ladder.

We tend to think of these dark personalities as mastermind chameleons who operate in total secrecy. But Ten Brinke points out a far more unsettling truth. When researchers give these people self-assessment tests, they don’t hide. They check the boxes admitting they lack remorse, manipulate others, and view themselves as born leaders. They know exactly who they are. They just don’t care how it affects you.